1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to unified messaging systems configured for receiving, storing, and supplying messages to a subscriber, independent of message format or the type of device used by the sender of the message or the subscriber accessing the messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
The evolution of the public switched telephone network has resulted in a variety of voice applications and services that can be provided to individual subscribers and business subscribers. Such services include voice messaging systems that enable landline or wireless subscribers to record, playback, and forward voice mail messages. However, the ability to provide enhanced services to subscribers of the public switched telephone network is directly affected by the limitations of the public switched telephone network. In particular, the public switched telephone network operates according to a protocol that is specifically designed for the transport of voice signals; hence any modifications necessary to provide enhanced services can only be done by switch vendors that have sufficient know-how of the existing public switched telephone network infrastructure.
Short Message Services (SMS) have been implemented in wireless telephone communications systems as a way to send a message to a subscriber's wireless phone. SMS messages have become quite popular recently, due in part from wireless telephone service providers offering SMS as a free service in conjunction with wireless telephony services; hence, many wireless subscribers have developed a preference to communicating using SMS as opposed to more costly wireless voice services. A messaging server, also referred to as a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), is configured for receiving an SMS message from a messaging source according to Short Message Peer to Peer Protocol (SMPP). The messaging source may be, for example, a cellphone supplying a user-input message, or an e-mail interface resident within the wireless telephone communications system. The SMSC, in response to receiving the SMS message from the messaging source, transmits a short message to the cellular phone based on the destination telephone number specified within the notification message. However, this arrangement still provides only limited flexibility in enabling different sources to send an SMS message to a cellular phone. In addition, existing cellphones are limited by memory to storing up to ten SMS messages. Moreover, this arrangement limits the ability of an SMS subscriber having a cellphone to send messages to a destination that does not have an SMS-capable cellphone.
Unified communications systems are under development as a way of enhancing messaging services for users such as wireless telephone subscribers. A disadvantage of unified communications systems implemented as enhanced versions of the voice mail system, paging system, or e-mail interface resident within the wireless telephone communications system is that such implementation requires detailed knowledge of the proprietary protocols associated with the voice mail systems. Hence, such implementations are available only from switch vendors having knowledge of the proprietary protocols.
Use of a unified communications system implemented independent of the existing proprietary voice mail systems enables service providers to use scalable and distributed systems using recognized communication protocols. Hence, the service providers may use such unified communications systems across multiple platforms, independent of protocol, for storage of various types of messages, for example voice messages, facsimile, and e-mail stored in a centralized messaging store. However, existing unified communications systems still have not address the need for integrating SMS messaging within the unified messaging scheme; hence, unified messaging subscribers have not been able to fully utilize the beneficial features of sending and receiving SMS messages.